Soul Hustler

Sometimes decent little b-movies simply fall through the cracks and are forgotten. That certainly seems to be the case with "Soul Hustler," a great '70s flick starring singer Fabian (Forte), belly-dancer Nai Bonet, Tony Russel, Larry Bishop (son of Joey Bishop) and perennial voice-man Casey Kasem.

Matthew (Fabian) is a grifter who picks up a former-junkie hitchhiker (Bishop) who just got back from 'nam and then stops at a church revival tent to swindle the patrons out of their hard earned cash. The stunt lands him in jail, but evangelist Evin (Russel) sees potential in the young conman and takes him under his wing. Next thing you know, Matthew is being billed as "the son of Jesus," he picks up a manager (Kasem), cuts a record and is on his way to superstardom. Late in the game, Matthew meets Helena (Bonet), who hopes to take him away from his unhappy life as a reluctant messiah.

To say much more of the plot itself is to spoil it -- there's a few pretty unexpected twists thrown in here and there. Fabian really shines as Matthew, which makes it especially sad that this was one of his final big roles (of course, he's still alive, so there's always hope...). He also gets to sing some groovy songs composed by biker movie music great Harley Hatcher ("Satan's Sadists," "The Wild Angels").

Bishop is so well cast as Matthew's hapless sidekick that it's a shame his character didn't have more to do. Russel is commanding as Matthew's constant foil, and a mustached Kasem provides some much needed comic relief. Of course, at least one instance with Kasem wasn't intended to be funny, but the sight of him in a Speedo that doesn't come even remotely close to matching his tan line seems ridiculous.

And then there's Nai Bonet ("Nocturna"), who's also surprisingly good... for the most part. The biggest problem with her performance is it feels like a huge chunk of it ended up on the cutting room floor -- her motivations aren't always clear and her emotional level seems out of whack in more than one instance, as if scenes that were meant to bookend were nixed. Still, being familiar with some of Nai's other films, this one seems like the crown jewel on her short-lived acting resume.

Writer/director Burt Topper was responsible for a lot of drive-in fare and, unfortunately, that brand of cheap exploitational sensationalism shines through in several instances. Matthew's backstory is delved into during a flashback that's unintentionally hilarious, and the ending is marred by a similarly tacky plot twist. It's not enough to completely destroy the film's narrative, but a few sequences really feel like they belong in another movie.

Really a shame that the film's never been officially released on disc, and the video's been out of print for decades.